Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A recent trip to a local thrift store netted these two cartoon books, both by women.

I'm always surprised that there haven't been more female cartoonists; any women would seem to have been crowded out by the male cartoonists, who outnumbered them. But many women were very fine cartoonists, including Marty Links, who drew "Bobby Sox," title later changed to "Emmy Lou," from 1944 to 1979. Links, whose first name was Martha, was a member of the National Cartoonists Society. After closing down "Emmy Lou" she went into greeting cards and Kidlinks.

Is this a mistake in the Wikipedia entry for Marty Links, whose birth name is listed as Martha Arguello? Later in the article it says she married a man named Arguello.

"Sweetie Pie" appears to be cartoonist Nadine Seltzer's chief claim to cartooning fame. A female Dennis the Menace, it's hard not to draw comparisons between her character and the timeless Hank Ketcham Dennis. Sweetie Pie, who has charm as well as mischief, lasted from 1954 to 1967, a good run for any strip. Also, this compilation, SWEETIE PIE, went through at least 11 printings, as shown in the indicia I've scanned, so apparently someone was buying the book.

After "Sweetie Pie" folded Nadine Seltzer didn't show up on the cartooning radar again, so what happened? Maybe a family member or a friend can enlighten us.